Drawer suspension for furniture.



A. YR. SCHAFFERT.

DRAWER sUsPENsloN FOR FURNITURE.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

APPLmATmN mib MRS/1.1915.

Patented Apr.

l 1 l n 2 n 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

7111011111111Il1111/1l1]111111111111l111111111l1llll/111111111111111111111151/151! Q Y Y Patented Apr. 1l, 1916.

,/11111/111111111111, l 11111111111. lll/1l A. HK SCHAFFERT.

DRAWER sUs'RENsmN FOR FURNITURE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 31

g1/wanton UNITED STATES' I,Aq- ENT,o1-,FICEl ADOLFIH. SCHAFFERT, 0F YOUN'GrSTO'WN, 0HIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE GENERAL FIRE- PROOFING COMBANY, OF YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

im-AWER SUSPENSION For. Funmrunn.

T0 all whom t mag/'concern vBe it known that I, ADoLr` H. SCHAF- F'ERT, a. citizen 4of the United States, residing at Youngstown, in the county of Mahoning and State of Ohio, havelnvented certain new and useful Improvements in Drawer Suspension for Furniture, of which the following is aspecification..

This invention relates to an improved suspension vor drawer fitting having special utility in its application to metal furniture, and more particularly to sliding drawers of cases or cabinets adapted for filing and storing documents.A

A primary object of the invention is to provide a novel and practical type of drawer suspension, operating on a different princlple from the ordinary extension slides, and which provide drawer as i is moved to varying positions within or without the casing or cabinet. In this' connection, the invention has specially in view a form of attachment and construction which will entirely take the place'of telescopic extension slides and equivalent devices which are lordinarily employed for slidably supporting drawers within their casings. In this aspect,tthe invention obviates the disadvantages ofthe usual drawer suspensions which require a considerable' number of pieces in order to insure the satisfactory operation of the drawer, thereby lessening the possibility' of parts becoming inoperative or out of order while at the Sametime effecting a great 'economy-from a manufacturing standpoint.

A further object of. lthe invention is 'to provide a vdrawer suspension .or fitting which will not only subserve every function of the ordinary telescopic. o'r equivalent slides with respect to the proper support and guiding of the drawer in the variable positions 4which theilatter occupies as it'is moved into' and outof lits casing, but whichl will also permit a4 full depth of the drawer to the casing without any loss of filing space.' Also the improved construction isspecially applicable to-metal furniture because it provides a construction which is not affected by uneven surfacesor defects that may result from the operation of-dies in bending and shaping the metalv parts. Irrespective -of such defectswhich seriously interfere with the operation of some forms of construction, the present device provides a'n'ovel combif'or properly supporting the' figures of the drawings.

Specification ofvLetters Iatent. Patented Apr. 11, 1916 Appueation mea March 31, 1915. serial No. 18,3478. f`

"nation and arrangement of parts which positively insures a free and .easy movement of the drawer in and out of the casing without binding of parts or jerkiness of movement, and wherein fr1ct1onal reslstance 1s reduced to a mini-mum.

With these andl other. objects which will more readily appear as the nature of. the invention is better understood, ,the same consists in the novel construction, combination, and arrangement of parts herel'inafter more fully described, illustrated and claimed.

' The essenstial features ofthe invention inl volved in carrying forward the idea of entirely dispensing with telescopic or equivalent members, the invention is necessarily'.

susceptible of structural modification without departing from the spirit -orv scope thereof, but a'preferred and practical embodiment thereof isv shown in the accompanying drawings, inl which- Figure l is a vertical central longitudinal ,sectional view 'of 011e unit of a metal cabinet illustrating the improved drawer suspension orl fitting applied to 'one drawer in View and. its casing.v Fig. 2 is a, similar view showing the drawer 'slightly extended with the folding extension slide partly engaged with the rear upwardly 'extending deflecting section ofjthe track member. Fig. 3 is a vertical cross sectional view-on the line 3-3 .trating its pivotalattachmentto the drawer.

FigQG is an enlarged detail sectional view on theline 6-6 of Figj'l, illustrating a preferable form o f roller bearing guide roller employed-at the rear ends ,of the folding extension slides. y Like reference characters designate cor- A'of Fig; 2. Fig. 4 is v4a detail skeleton view i responding parts-'throughout the several illustrative purposes there is shown in the' A drawings, one unit ofva-metal filing case or cabinet which 'includes a suitably construct-` ed drawer casing 1 and the sliding drawer 2 operating therein. l v

According to the lpresent drawer casing 1 has rigidly secured to the opposite inner sides thereof fixed guiding and supporting track members which. mayinvention, the l be offset from the casing walls by bracket continuation, one with the other;

plates 3, tho-ugh thisvis not an essential detail of the invention. The said fixed track members preferably 'consist of channel plates having upper and lower flanges 1 and -5 and the intermediate connecting web portion 6, thus forming at theinner sides of the track .members a guideway orchannel -to accommodate certain parts of the device as will presently appear. Each 'of these channeled track members includes a main horizontal track section A. and a rear upwardly extending deflecting track section B. The track section B isv of'the same chan-1` nel Aformation as the track section A, and the Kchannels or grooves of said two track sections are' in direct communication and? l But, it will be observed that .the rear track section B is disposed within the rear end portion of the drawer casing and curves rearwardly and upwardly from the rear end ofthe Ina-in horizontal section. A to a point approaching the top of the casing to provide means for folding or deflecting to an out-ofthe-way position the extension slide attach. ment to the drawer. j The extension slide'- attachment referred to has been" Itermed a folding extension slide, because it is lifted or folded out of the rway when the drawer is moved inward toward its `lelosed position. ltis designatedgenerally, inFig. 5 of the drawings, by the ref-f erence letter S and preferably comprisesv a.,

-slide-frame consisting of a pair o-f opposite extension bars 7 and a connecting tie rod or equivalent connector 8 between the rear end portionsof said bars. rlhis forms 'a frame structure capable of rising 'and falling to provide the folding eect for the ex? tension` slide, and inorder that-this feature of the invention may be ,satisfactorily ac# -complished the opposite side extension bars s,

ing carried at its rear end to thejextreme i 7 are pivotally united at their forward ends as. at 1 9, to opposite side 'portions of the,v drawer 2 preferably at apoint intermediate the front and rear endsofthe drawer. i rlhe pivotal connection between the extension bars 7 and the sides -of the drawer vmay be provided for in any suitable manner,

l preferably by a riveting operation, and inr this connection it will'be further noted that i the- 'preferable form of the invention involves welding or otherwise attaching to the outer bottom corner portions ,of the drawer reinforcing angle plates 10, the

, lower flanges 11 ofwhich engage within thehorizontal track. section A over the lower :Ganges 5- thereof.l The said lower Hanges aat/asv? l,also of an. angle vformation with their flanges 12 disposed above the upper flanges v4' of the iixed tra'ck members. j

g At the fixed location of the pivots9 for the front ends of the bars 7 there 'are arranged, at the outer sidesof the latter, retainer projections or-buttons 13 which operate within the channels of the fixed track vmembers and assist in holdingvthe drawer in operative'relation to the track members. This function .also applies to the rear revolving guide and guide rollers 14 which are suitably mounted upon the outside of thebars 7 at the rear ends thereof. To reduce the frictional resistance to a minimum, the rollers 14 arel preferably of a rollerbearinglor ball-bearing type, as clearly shown in Fig. 6 of the drawings. In this -igureof the drawings, therollers 14 arev shown as of flanged formation loosely imounted upon the shank of a headed Apin 15 between which and the roller body is formed a race for the bearing rolls or balls 16.

" The rear guide rollers'14 operate within the channels'or guideways of both track members Aand B, and the forward movement of the drawer is limited by the engagement of stop projections 15a at an intermediate point on the bar 7, with stationary ibe observed that the extension slide S lpermits the drawer to be drawn out of ,the casing for its full length, as well as partially, and in anyv extended position will be supported andlheld by the extension slide S.

Upon the inward movement ofthe drawer, the rear guide rollers .14 enter the rear ftrack sections B andare deflected upwardly thereby, `with the-result offcausing the extension slide S to swing upwardly and over the rear end portion ofl theA drawer so as to be entirelyl vout of the way ofthev latter beback of the casing, thus 'conserving the full `depth of the casing for filing or storage gives a free and easy opening andclosing i movement for the drawer since the pressure ofthe load is substantially divided between the rollers 14 of the slide and the front supporting' rollers 17 mounted with# in the front portion' o-f the 'casing adjacent 1 the drawer opening and engaged by theA flange of the 'angle plate 10l which thereby in eect acts as al track member on the drawer in addition to its reinforcing function. Y

#Fiere if A u A i 'From the foregoing, it is thoughtthat the construction and advantages of thermvention will be readily apparent 'without further description. I claim: 1. A drawer support including, in'

casing, track members mounted on'said casing and having upwardly directed rear eX-.

tensions, and a swlnging extension .slide pivotally carried by the sides of the drawer and i engaging the track members and their rear extensions. l

2. A drawer support including, in combi. nation with the sliding drawer and lts casmg, track members mounted on lts cas1ng,.

and having rear upwardly curved extens1ons7 and a swinging extension sllde pivotally carried by the sides of the'drawer at an intermediate point thereof and engaging the track members.

3. A drawer support including in-combi- .l nation with`a sliding drawer and its casing,

track members fitted tothe casing and having rear upward extensions, and an extension slide pivoted adjacent the bottom edge y of the drawer at an intermediate point-thereof and having elements engaged and guided by the track members and .their extensions.

4. A drawer support including in combi-` nation with a sliding drawer andits casing, track members fitted tothe casing and having rear lupward extensions, and an extension f' slide comprising opposite connected bars pivoted adjacent the lower side edges of the drawer at an intermediate point thereof and carrying roller elements engaged and guided by the vtrack members and their extensions.

5. .A drawer support including in conibination with a sliding drawer and its casing, channeled track members fitted to the casing and having rear upward extensions, andan extension slide comprising opposite connectcombination withl the sliding drawer and its drawer and vcarrying at their rear' ends roller elements operating in the channels ofl the track members and their extensions, re-

taining elements'projecting outward from i the pivoted ends of said 4angle bars of the slide and operating in the channelsof the j track members, and .supporting rollers lovcated at the front of the casing and engaged by theJ angle bars on the drawer. 7 A drawer support including, in combination with a' slidingdrawer and its casing,

a. horizontal track mounted on said casing and having upwardlydirected rear end portions, anextension slide comprising oppo site rigid ba'rs pivotedat one end to the the horizontal track and upwardly directed end portions thereof, and stops carried by the drawer for engaging the rigid bars of the slide to support the drawerv when the Asame is pulled out of the casing. A

8. A drawer support including, in combi nation with a sliding drawer and its casing,V

a horizontall trackmounted on said casing and having upwardly directed grooved rear end portions, an extension slide comprising opposite rigid bars pivoted at one end to the sides of the drawer adjacentthe lower edge thereof, means located at the pivot pomt of said bars for traveling in the horizontal track,.and means carried by the free end portions' of the bars forsriding in saidv horizontal track and upwardly directed grooved rear end portions thereof..

9. A drawer support including, in combination with a sliding drawer and its casing, a horizontal `track mounted on said casing and having upwardly directed grooved-rear end portions, an extension slide comprising opposite rigid bars pivoted at one end to sides of .thedrawen means carried. by the free end portions of the bars for riding in" the .sides ofthe drawer adjacent the lower edge thereof, meansv located at the pivot point of said bars for traveling lin the hori zontal track, means carried by thefree end portions of the Vbars for riding in said horizontal track and upwardly directed grooved rear end portions thereof,.and stop ianges 'carried by the drawer for engaging the rigid bars of the slide to'support the drawer when the same is pulled entirely out of the casing.

' In testimony whereof hereunto affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

ADOLF H. SCHAFFERT. Witnesses:

' A. J. VVATsoN,

O. D. KAISER. 

